The Main Events
Curtis Axel defeated Chris Jericho to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship. Before the match, Paul Heyman talked about what he did to CM Punk. MizTV was the platform and Heyman delivered. The talking was captivating and the emotion in his voice comes off so real. After the segment, Axel and Jericho put on a great match. Finally, WWE gave a match more than 5 minutes. Axel was on the defensive for the majority of the match. Axel hits the mat so Jericho hits a Lionsault for two, then he knees Axel in the face a few times and tries to press slam him, but Axel throws him to the apron. I love the ability Axel has to reverse basically any move. The pace of the match was smooth and very natural. Jericho dives on him and throws him into the broadcast table, but Paul Heyman distracts him long enough for Axel to kick him in the head and hit a hangman's facebuster for the win. After the match, Ryback attacks Jericho. We learn on Twitter that Jericho is done for 2013.
*This has been the best wrestling consistently I have seen from Jericho in his career. Every single match Jericho had was great. He continues to get better with age. I would love to see Jericho return and fight for a world title in 2014. If he can give us half a year of no interruptions, he deserves another run at the top. Chris Jericho is such a fantastic talent in every single way.
Grade: B+
-Vickie Guerrero is named the Smackdown GM. Teddy Long is gone, thank God. I have been so sick of Long over the years. I am not sure why he continued to get the television time. Booker T comes back only to lose his job. Again, love her or hate her: Vickie Guerrero is the best option as a GM right now. I can see Vince controlling her on Smackdown and Raw, while Triple H tries to control Maddox. All of this is going to boil down to full control of WWE at Wrestlemania 30. We can sit back and let everything unfold.
Grade: B-
Randy Orton defeated Alberto Del Rio in the main event of the night. Orton and Del Rio worked a fast paced and entertaining eight minute match to end Smackdown. If you were not sure before, you are now. WWE cares so little about the World Heavyweight Champion and they are going to do whatever it takes to build Randy Orton back all the way to the top. I would have loved to see WWE invest time on naming a Number 1 Contender, but they did not do that tonight. It HAS to happen this coming week. They need to build a reason for us to care about Del Rio.
Grade: B
–Sandow tries to forgive Cody Rhodes about his attacks on Raw. Rhodes declined being the carrier of the briefcase and attacks Sandow. This is a clever way for WWE to build two younger guys at once. Make one a guy you love to boo, while the other has the pedigree and lineage in professional wrestling. I am interested to see how they continue to build these guys up at one time.
Grade: B
WWE Smackdown Grade: C
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